


beloved monster

by tenderfirstlove



Series: Modern AUs & misc. [8]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, Falling In Love, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Sharing Body Heat, Twinleth, with crests
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:14:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25078972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenderfirstlove/pseuds/tenderfirstlove
Summary: The last thing Dimitri wanted was to be dragged through half of Faerghus only to rescue some good-for-nothing Princess!(And yet he did it anyway, because the price of being undisturbed is too valuable to him.)
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & My Unit | Byleth, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth, Manuela Casagranda & Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, My Unit | Byleth & Sothis
Series: Modern AUs & misc. [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642069
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	beloved monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The peaceful days at Dimitri's cottage have come to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **awful here means something worthy of awe not horrid like it has evolved to mean.**
> 
> *end notes for how the characters look like*

When Dimitri awoke for his day in his usual little hand-made cottage he was pleasantly surprised to once again be alone. He stared at his ceiling with some semblance of loneliness before he sat up gruffly and scratched at his hair— It was time to get ready for another day, a horribly boring one, just like he loved it. First, he shuffled his way into the kitchen area, changing his clothing and putting them in a bucket full of water before shrugging on his hunting wear and leather armour and his boots before grabbing his sharpened lance and went out the door with a content sigh. 

The morning light was warm and melancholy, perfect for hunting his breakfast as he made fast work of the woods that surrounded him and his home, by noon catching a few rabbits and bringing them back— preparing them and cooking the lean meat over the fires before leaving it to collect some familiar herbs outside, only to be alarmed by a crowd of drunken men from the near-by village shouting.

"That beast needs to be taken care of! He is stealing our crops, scaring our children. A menace to our community..!" The blonde villager raised a flaming torch before the other men shouted alongside him encouragingly, "We need to make sure he never returns... I'll even fight him myself to make that a sure end for the beast!" A brown-haired man dragged back the blonde worriedly, grip on his pitchfork loose.

"Hey! You've heard what he'd done right? It is said he'll break your legs and feed them to you until you can't eat no more, then he'll leave you out for the other beasts of the night to feed on, his only other companions than his cruelty.... He'll drink your marrow and take your good eye to replace his own. He will make sure nothing of you is wasted..."

Dimitri crawled behind the group that was nearing his home, a terrifying grin painted on his face that was strained at the sides and wide to show off his teeth,"Well well... It seems the Goddess has been graceful enough to bring me some new prey.. I suppose those rabbits I am cooking won't even fill me... yet your lean marrows will. You are all young, virile men.. brimming with nutrients for my own body. Won't you fill me? If you don't want to then I'll make you, that is only if you don't leave!" He leaned in, towering over the men with a feral snarl falling from his lips, to which the group whimpered and shouted in terror before running far back to the direction of the village. 

With a chuckle he went on with his noon, soon dusk will fall and he will be able to eat to live another day.

Maybe even get to read that new book he found nearby his secret fairy ring.

His eye stopped to look at the wanted poster before he turned with a scoff, lumbering back to the cottage.

❅

After he ate dinner he grabbed the book he found out of his shoulder bag, dusting off stray bits of grass and pollen before opening it up and sighing with clear weight, he mumbled the text to himself as he looked over the painted and bound scripture.

> _"Once upon a time, there was an angelic princess. She was cursed with a cruel enchantment, which could only be broken by love's first kiss.. Her place remained in a chained castle, guarded by a gigantic dragon that breathed flames like no other, burning the flesh off your marrow cleanly if anyone dared to approach it._
> 
> _Many brave knights had vowed to free her from her cold prison, yet none prevailed at the hand of her dragon, so she awaited in slumber. Taking refuge in the highest room, of the tallest tower, awaiting her true love and their first love's kiss.."_

He lay in silence for a few moments, pondering before letting out a tame laugh and closing the book,"What a load of rat piss, as if there hasn't already been a thousand tales like this. All worthless." He tossed it onto the floor before he got up to get ready for the night, stripping and redressing into his night shorts before sliding into warm sheets, eagerly awaiting another day of silence and solitude.

❅

The following morn nothing much was different, still quiet and cold like he loved, the flowers surrounding his home with thin layers of ice from his perpetually uncontrolled magics. 

"There she goes! This way—"

It was around noon when he was putting up new signs to keep away from his abode when he felt something shove against him stubbornly,"Oh well hello there! Handsome, aren't you?" He turned around to see a shorter woman , grooming her feathers that grew out from her underarms before she went to hide behind him at the sound of approaching feet.

"You there. Creature! Look at me when I address you!"

Dimitri let out a rough breath before turning to the armoured men, his trusty wooden, hand-whittled spear sat comfortably in his grip, expression soured and sullen as he gazed the men up and down,"I may look wherever I so please. You'd do better to not forget you are in _our_ enchanted forests, human." The head guard glared as he pulled out a thick scroll, his men glancing nervously around the woods.

"By the order of Lord Gloucester, I am authorised to place you both under arrest to.. transport you to a designated resettlement.. facility."

The men behind him cowered as the seven foot tall creature approached, furred cape dragging behind him in the dirt and grass whilst he towered over them all, he tilted his spear forward with a rough snarl,"You and what men will transport a creature such as I?" The head guard looked behind him as he slowly backed away from the blond, when realising his men were long gone he turned around and started to run back down the wearied trail of the forest, the siren behind Dimitri only gave a satisfied laugh before quickly following the man who now started to wander back off and carry on with his usual day.

"Might I express my gratitude?", Dimitri kept on trudging through the forest with his spear that was now being used as a temporary walking stick,"You were absolutely awful back there! Absolutely amazing." The siren flapped her wings quietly as she moved about Dimitri's tall stance to take in his full stature and being.

The tall demon stopped with a sigh, heavy shoulder sinking before he turned around,"Are you talking to—", he looked around, only to find no woman before rolling his eyes and turning around,"Argh! Gods, what _is_ it with you?!" The siren only smiled before carrying on chatting and praising him with contentment, much to his dismay as he kept walking with an annoyed expression, but the woman kept following along.

"Who else would I address? Anyway, those guards were shocked restless by your darkened and brooding expression. It was quite entertaining, I must say. They were like babes learning to walk the first time, their knees buckling below their weights as they ran!" She cackled something fierce before Dimitri made an exaggerated noise of agreement,"It has been some time since I was able to experience such joys, the fruit of freedom is sweeter than I remember it being.."

As she pondered out loud, the man turned around, spear almost smacking her in the face before she dodged,"Well. If it is so great a joy then why not go off and celebrate this joyous moment with your friends? Hmm? And leave me in peace to my own land and trees before I decide to gut you like the men I did so merrily last eve!" The bird creature looked sullen at the suggestion, the hostility flying right over her head.

"But... I have no friends. Not any for a long time, anyway. After being separated by those despicable men from my time in the opera house I haven't seen them since.. And I am _not_ going back there!" She stopped for a moment, thinking before smiling to herself as she flew to the daemon,"I know! I shall stay in your company for a while. With your brutish strength and my voice will scare the spirits out of anyone in out paths!"

Dimitri turned around and plucked a feather out of her set before snapping it with his fingers in rage,"I swear to the being above if you don't leave me now I won't hesitate to make myself a new pelt! For hell's sake why are you following me?!" She pursed her lips as she crooned at the loss of a feather before sighing.

"Because I'm all alone. And I have no one else I know but you, and you were so kind as to save me and now listen."

"Maybe the reason you have no one is because you rattle on and on and on! I've met more annoying pixies than you I could bear!"

She stared down into the stream with a determined expression,"Only a friend so true could be so painfully honest— though you had no need to pluck my quills!"

The man dragged a hand down his face in frustration.

"Take a look at my being? What am I?"

"... Extremely tall?"

"No! I am a daemon. I eat nightmares and souls for a living."

The siren remained silent in confusion.

"You know? The thing that men in villages come after with their tongs and heated metal with? I am a wretched thing. With no need for company, especially by the likes of yours."

She took another look at Dimitri before letting out a hum,"But you're good, no? You ease children's slumber by eating their nightmares. You are the reason those men can work so hard to provide for their families. Is it not their own mistake to judge you for your raffish appearance?"

"So, you are not afraid of me? Of my sharp claws and horns?"

"Not very, no."

Dimitri was silent for a time.

"What is your name then, tall fellow?"

".... Dimitri."

"Lovely. You know what I like about you, Dimitri? You have no care for the opinion others hold of you. I respect that."

They wondered upon Dimitri's small wooden cottage.

"What a quaint little home. It could use a little of tidying up although.."

"Thanks. I try my best."

❅

When they finally got inside of Dimitri's little icy cottage, she came flying in immediately,"Where will I sleep? When is supper? What are all of these books for? Wha—"

He put up a finger as he closed the door with his other hand,"Rule number one. You will be polite and respectful in my house. Number two, you will be _quiet_ inside my house, and treat it like the temple it is. Number three, you can only stay tonight. And yes, _only_ tonight." Manuela just nodded as she took refuge on his long seat and began grooming her feathers, Dimitri now beginning to fill with wood from his supply and light it on fire, before he left to prepare their meal.

After he roasted some more of the meat he caught the other day and put the food on the table in silence, Manuela sat next to him awkwardly before there was a noise rattling near-by,"Was that you? I told you to not touch anything unnecessarily—" The siren shook her head before she saw a rat scuttle across the table and pointed to it in panic.

"Oh hey! Gilbert is that you?"

"Haha yes, Thomas, it is me.. Hm.. this would make a comfortable heater I suppose.." 

The two watched as the mice brushed up against their meal, Dimitri angrily holding them by their tails and angrily throwing them outside the open window, and turning around and getting ready to sit down, just have a nice little meal to ease the stress off today and no. Now there's a bloody dead girl and his dinners on the floor. Some child out there will have a reckoning tonight,"What are you doing in _my_ home?! No dead girls on the dinner table!",he gave a rough push toward the 7 little dwarves who simply pushed it toward him again stubbornly.

"Where else were we supposed to put her? The fucking wooden crate you call a _tub_? Nay. The bed is taken and she is a princess damn it!"

Dimitri was almost fuming as he stomped over to his bedroom to pull the door open and—

"Well hello there, can I help you?"

A fucking wolf is in his bed. Correction— Half wolf? The man seemed quite young for his demeanour and his hair was awfully light purple with a sly little grin as he made himself comfortable in Dimitri's handmade pillows, sheets and even nightgown. 

"This is fucking it! I need everyone to get the hell out of my home!",he snarled as he picked up the man in his bed and held him up by the collar,"I live by a little river, I can handle visitors. I put up signs if I wish for no company yet here you all are? Without any greetings nor manners? I am a god damn dream eater! I will suck out all your desire to live and dream and be a happy creature if you don't get OUT!" With an angry exhale he kicked his door open to shove the hybrid wolf out before being met with hundreds, nay, thousands of other creatures,"I just wanted some privacy...!" He looked around to see a variety of creatures, centaurs and bears, pied piper even and more fairies amongst the many many differing varieties to behold with shock.

With a loud stomping of his right foot he let out an incredible scream that quieted down the whole population,"What is everyone doing near my COTTAGE?! You all killed my flowers, you melted my snow and you fucked up my dinner! How am I supposed to do my job for the village children huh? Any ideas? You are all so DAMN noisy!" He shooed them away with his hands before a bunch of gnomes sneaked in and shut the door on him. With a frustrated sigh he turned to Manuela,"Do you have _any_ clue about all of this?! Why are they all here!" Manuela only put a comforting hand to his shoulder with a sigh.

"Much like me, we were being sold off from our homes, and now we have no home. So.. We were forced to come here by Lord Gloucester. Believe us when we say we do not wish to stay, but we cannot leave this place of yours till he allows it— which I don't believe he shall in the foreseeable moons."

Dimitri slowly let out a sigh filled with anger, the pads of his claw-like fingers coming up to massage his temples before he let them thread into one and then fall to his side in a defeated manner.

"Alright. I hear your pleas. Who knows where this..", he made a waving gesture with his hands and the creatures of the forest retreated under his tired gaze,"Lord Gloucester lives then?" 

"Well. I know! Let me guide you!"

The blond demon looked to his side and to the siren, who only stared back at him with an expectant smile of sorts that he looked away from with a scowl.

"...Anyone _else_ know where to find him?"

A half-deerling raised its hand awkwardly before her friends lowered it for her, purple hair covering her eyes as she looked down to the ground in an attempt to hide, meanwhile the light purple-haired wolf from within was now outside and pointing to a tall minotaur who had pointed at him.

Manuela simply hummed as she crept into his eyesight.

"Literally anyone else."

He gave a defeated sigh as he looked to Manuela.

"... Oh for the Goddess' sake." He brushed a lock of hair that went down his shoulder and around to his pectorals, flipping it behind himself as he raised his voice once again,"Attention, all creatures of the forest. Do not plan to stay so long near this cottage of mine for your welcome to it is now over. It is so worn out that I will be going to see this Lord right now, so you may get off my land and back to wherever you resided."

The creatures were a little taken aback by his booming voice but nonetheless cheered for him as he finished his short speech, clapping happily as Dimitri made his way back inside the cottage, hand ripping the door off its hinges with his unbridled strength.

"Manuela, come. We must prepare."

Happily, the siren went after him, a certain pep in her usual step.

This would be a long and arduous journey, especially for the lonesome dream eater to make on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DIMITRI:
> 
> \- in this fic his look/being is based off a japanese mythological creature called ' _baku_ ' which is a nightmare eating chimera of different animals. i changed his appearance from what it actually is depicted as in folk imagery tho to this:
>
>> so, Dimitri is a 7ft tall humanoid with horns like a ram, his hands are normal save for the tip of his fingers which are blackened and sharp like claws. though he doesn't wear metal armour, he is built and always wears his signature fur/pelt cloak— another thing i changed in the folklore is his affinity to cold/ice. i mean he is faerghian.. his house is constantly surrounded by ice/cool weather with help of ice faeries [not FAIRIES] he has captured. hopefully this was an informative note lol.
> 
> MANUELA:
> 
> \- I changed her appearance to be a shorter than average humanoid woman, with regular arms and legs, her inner flesh of the arm sprouts wings. [she kinda looks like a flying squirrel but with bird wings attached to her arms] 
>
>> Manuela's siren nature is less like the mermaid-esque depiction the word siren is not associated with, but more true to the classical greek version of the siren [a woman with the body of a bird that spouts greater knowledge to sailors whom then encounter. they do not seduce or eat. this is misinformation from the period as the romanticism of mermaids was also popular during this type and eventually the original siren got overtaken by the mermaid craze.]
> 
> OTHER CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR:   
> -the three mice are gilbert and thomas. the 7 dwarves are p much just npc villagers from fe3h (like the monk, priest etc.) 
>
>> other creatures are just random npc students and don’t really need any detailed notes of their appearances since they’re actually pretty bland.


End file.
